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BLOODY GENESIS

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"Before humans as we know them existed, La Magra, the blood god, and his pets walked the earth, destroying everything in sight, but they soon starved, even though the creatures back then did not turn; they killed everything. The god and the surviving beasts retreated deep below ground and slept. When man emerged, La Magra held back his pets and their ravenous hungers until the humans started flourishing.

He created the first of his humanoid children, Dagon, who later became known as Dracula, and then Drake, the first of Hominus nocturna. He turned a human female who bore the first pureblood children. Though Drake later learned to survive in sunlight, his female and his progeny could not stand the agony and stayed below ground. Eventually they lost all resistance to the sunlight, and it became death to venture above ground during the day. Being made by the blood god himself, Drake was strong, and learned to withstand the light.

Though Drake was able to feed on any creature with blood, including other blood-drinkers, his children only fed off and turned humans, creating half-bloods. With each feeding they turned more humans, and the need to regularly feed meant that this increase in vampire numbers could not last because they would exhaust the human population.

For this reason La Magra had not emerged completely into the surface world, because he wanted an army of subjects as well as the means to feed and sustain them forever. He deemed that it was not the time to change all of mankind into his children until he had a way of keeping them alive and strong. He wanted vampires that did not have to feed on human blood alone, but through the generations that particular mutation never successfully emerged. Recently, a vampire had achieved via genetic engineering what evolution could not, but the progeny still could not sustain themselves, and were little better than animals, mindlessly feeding on anything. They were wiped out not long after their creation.

Back to the point; Drake was a type of Daywalker, and his blood was capable of reviving his father. However, instead of awakening his father when it was time for his reign, he too, slept, until he was summoned, not long ago, by his descendants and slain by another Daywalker, Blade.

Drake had known that he might miss the time of his father's resurrection, so before he slept he tried to create a new Daywalker to take his place. When he had first turned a female into a vampire, sunlight had burned her and any children she had. He took instead a human female, and did not bite her until she bore him a child. Once he found that it could withstand the light, he turned the mother and left her to raise and protect it. He never discovered that the child was not a vampire.

When it was found that the child did not drink blood, and was as weak as a human, the vampire mother tried to turn him repeatedly without success. Drake had inadvertently created the human immunity that your mother carried, which, as it carried the strength of Drake's own blood,was also capable of reviving weak and dying vampires. The child fled into the light before he was drained to death, and disappeared. Seeing as your mother existed, he apparently survived to raise his own human family; his bloodline resulting in you.

When, Frost, the would-be vessel of La Magra was slain, again, by the Daywalker Blade, the blood god retreated, as it was obviously not his time. However, he did try to emerge again when the rapidly-renewable blood of a mortal was used to resurrect his vessel. You see, your mother was the key to a sustainable population of humans. If we had many more humans like her that would not turn and who could survive multiple feedings, then La Magra would be able to rise and turn all other humans into his children.

Unfortunately, the fools who conducted the ritual killed her when they used her. We don't know of any other human who had her ability. The god must have sensed this and withdrawn, but his vessel remained and the gates to the world beneath were left open. His pets have started to emerge, seeking out the Daywalkers and the vessel, and without their master's guidance they are feeding on both vampires and humans in their mindless hunger.

The blood of certain beings, such as Daywalkers or the human strain of Dagon's bloodline, can open the gates, to release the blood god or his servants but it takes the power of a god to close them. To prevent more beasts from emerging, we must call forth the blood god again. To prevent the blood god from lingering and turning the humans, his new vessel must be slain again to seal them back underground."

Caitlyn was quiet for a moment. She had lots of questions to ask. "Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Thomas Arvin. I have an interest in you and your history because my older brother was the vampire who kept Rebecca Groveton prisoner. I am perhaps the only living vampire that knows who you and your parents were."

"You're my uncle?" Caitlyn asked softly.

"Yes."

"And I'm just guessing here, but I assume you found out all of that stuff about vampire origins from the Blood Texts?"

"Yes." He seemed very calm, and patiently waited for her questions.

Caitlyn kept piecing the information together. "You want to close the gates but you need a Daywalker like me to do it, as well as a vessel. That's why you brought me here."

"That is true, but you needn't be the one who is sacrificed. Two more Daywalkers exist now. Blade and Deacon Frost are both capable of reviving the Blood God."

"You know about Frost?"

"His second in command works for us."

Caitlyn nodded. "And that explains how you knew where I was. You said you wanted my help." She sighed. "You want me to bring you one of the other Daywalkers for the ritual."

"Yes." Arvin replied. "You know them both, and they are now both your allies."

Caitlyn gave a weak chuckle. "And to save the world I have to betray one of my allies to a pureblood vampire. You do realise that even if I was willing to do that I'm no stronger than either of them. "

"You can be," Arvin told her. "Frost is a half-blood, and was Blade's sire. You, on the other hand, are descended from a pure-blooded vampire and a human of Drake's bloodline. Drake had the ability to change his shape. His extra strengths remained latent in his human descendants, but when recombined in you, the daughter of a vampire, you can use it. Through some trick of natural mutation you use that same strength to create heat and to nourish natural life."

"Why aren't I more of a vampire?" Caitlyn asked, grabbing the opportunity to learn more about herself. "I have never needed to feed on blood before. Even Blade has the thirst."

"The immunity you carry protects you from the thirst. Your blood doesn't need to be replenished because it does that by itself. It is also why Frost has been able to go longer between feedings since he took blood from you." Arvin paused and looked down at his hands. "What you need to know, you know. What you do with that information is now up to you. If you seek my resources, you'll have them." He looked back up at Caitlyn as he took a key from his pocket and offered it to her. "You may leave or stay, as you wish."

The key was for Caitlyn's restraints. Inexplicably, she started laughing. "Oh, what is it with you vampires and thinking that you have to kidnap and restrain me just to get a conversation with me?" She gave a weak smile as she sobered and thought about her decision. To save the world, one, or maybe even two of the Daywalkers had to die. The vessel, certainly. The blood giver, maybe. But no one said that another vampire couldn't take Frost's place. As Arvin had said, now that she knew what she needed, it wasup to her.

She had one last question that perhaps her uncle could answer. "The beasts that have already escaped; what happens if you survive a bite or a claw slash?"

"I don't know. As far as I know, there have been no survivors. I suppose that you will have to discover the answer for yourself."

Caitlyn couldn't help but grimace a little, and closed her eyes.

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AN: I'm hoping to make the next chapter really long and cover a lot of ground, so it may take me a fair while to get it posted. But hey, maybe I'll finish it quickly or it may be much shorter than I expected. We'll just see what happens.
PS: I'm getting close to finishing up this story. Yay for me.